Its started to use some oil...

[Stanky]

I'd like some advice, reassurance or the brutal truth please.

 

My Almera seems to have developed a bit of a 'thing' for using oil. I give it a service in April 2014 (this year), about 10,000 miles ago, where I replaced, among other things, the oil and filter. Rather than use the recommended 5w/30 I opted for 10w/40 as it was on offer at ECP.

 

Now, I checked the oil about 8 weeks ago and it was down below the 'low' mark on the dipstick. Not really low, but lower than expected. I gave it a litre or so and it was back up at the halfway mark between 'Low' and 'High'. Fast-forward to today, ~2000 miles later and the oil level is back down just below 'low' on the dipstick. I gave it another litre and it seems to be back at the middle of the range again.

 

The car has done 120k, its a 1.4 pez and seems to run fine. There is no mayo under the oil cap, no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil. There is no obvious blue smoke on startup and while the underside of the engine is a bit oily and mucky, there isn't 2+ litres worth there. It doesn't mark its territory when parked either. This leads me to conclude that a small amount is being burned during normal driving - is this cause for concern on an 18 year old, 120k mile, £400 car? I do circa 600 miles a week commuting to and fro work and have breakdown cover.

 

Having looked into various other chariots over the past year or so, things like the Toyota 1ZZ-FE 1.8 engine as fitted to Avensises is reckoned to drink about a litre every 1000 miles in normal driving, so should I be worried? I tightened up the oil filter which was possibly a little looser than I'd like, but it doesn't seem to be losing it externally.

 

I suppose the flip side of this is to consider that an appetite for oil means that at least its getting a continuous supply of fresh, new oil to dilute the grotty stuff in between services...

 

Answers on the back of a postage stamp please!

 

 

[dave21478]

I wouldnt be even vaguely concerned.

 

In the handbook for my Astra, it stated that up to 1 litre per thousand miles was acceptable. You are loosing half that much on an old car.....keep an eye on the level but otherwise carry on as normal.

[Richard]

Try a different kind of oil next time you change it. Years ago I got all the leaks plugged in my SAAB 900's engine and treated it to some posh semi-synthetic oil. It went through the stuff at an alarming rate but once I'd added a sump's worth of my usual oil over a couple of weeks the oil consumption dropped to zero.

[r.welfare]

What Dave said. Both of my cars use a litre every couple of thousand miles with around 200k up, I top it up and live with it. Is the Almera a twin cam? They seem to use more than single cams. A 2L bottle from Tesco is about eight quid and useful to keep in the boot to top up from.

 

At least you're keeping an eye on it - my wife doesn't and I only find out the Avensis is low when the oil light flicks on briefly when coming to a halt...

 

I do find that Forte oil treatment tends to prolong the need for a top up - you can buy a twin pack of this plus engine flush for about 20 quid (I think the pack is called Engine Protect), it's good stuff.

[forddeliveryboy]

I generally use the recommended oil unless there is some good mechanical reason - something like the engine has done 200k (so slightly tihcker oil may make sense if tolerances are larger) or people who know the engines inside out recommend something different suits them better.

 

And I'd never leave any oil in an engine for 12k miles, unless I was trying to kill it. Given it doesn't kill it, everything will be being stressed and wearing more than necessary. I bought some 10w40 from ECP and thought it was crap. Purely my judgement, based on increased engine harshness as the miles piled on, compared with other stuff.

 

Leave it long enough and it will start doing its own oil changes for you as you have to top it up in increasing amounts. This may or may not vanish when the oil is finally drained and replaced with new.

[Split_Pin]

Get on some Nissan Forums and find out what oil to use. It's common for older, higher mileage engines to need the next grade up of thickness, as said to take account of loosening tolerances. Marque specific forums should tell you what you need to know.